Hair-clipper



S. M MILLER.

HAIR CLIPPER. APPLICATION FILED JULY 11,1919.

Patented Aug. 3, 1920.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SOLOMON M. MILLER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

HAIR-CLIPPER.

Application filed July 11,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SOLOMON M. MILLER, a citizen of the United States,'resid1ng at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Hair-Clippers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact descri tion.

y invention relates to improvements in hair clippers and has for its object (in addition to the simplification secured through,

the special form and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and illustrated and pointed out in the claims) the provision of manually, or rather finger-operated, means for regulating the distance between the skin or hair bearing surface and the cut made by the instrument, so that the length of hair left after the cut may be easily controlled, instead of having to depend as much as heretofore, upon the experience and Sklll of persons operating the instrument. A further object of my invention is the provision of an instrument capable of motor operation which is compact and small and easily handled.

I attain the above indicated results by means of the structure illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich- Figure 1 is a central longitudinal section of a hair cli per embodying my invention.

F ig'. 2 is a ottom plan of the cutting end of the structure shown in Fig. 1, slightly enlarged.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation end of the structures shown 2, still further enlarged.

Fig. 4 is a perspective of the movable cutter blade, and

Fig. 5 is a bottom lan, similar to that shown in Fig. 2, but il ustrating a modified arrangement for moving the guard plate.

In the drawings, similar reference characters are employed to identify the same parts throughout the divers views.

The mounting for my device comprises a handle 1 having an enlargement 2 at one end which forms the housing and support for the operating mechanism. The mounting is, preferably, formed of two pieces of metal, the line of juncture between the pieces extending longitudinally of the handle and extending a short distance into the lower rear portion of the enlargement 2. The handle is hollow except at each end where the hollow portion is reduced s'ufli.

of the cutting in Figs. 1 and Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 3, 1920-.

1919. Serial No. 310,242.

ciently to receive suitable bushings 3 for journaling the opposite ends of the actuating shaft 4 that extends longitudinally therethrough. The rear ends of the pieces forming the handle are reduced and exteriorly threaded to receive the interiorly threaded ferrule 5 which holds the rear ends of the pieces forming the handle in desired relation to one another, while the opposite ends of the pieces are secured together by screws 5 passing through the upper part of the enlargement and into the lower piece thereof. The rear end of shaft 4 is provided with any suitable coupling (not shown) for securing the same to any source of power, such as a flexible shaft that connects with a motor or the like, and upon the front or forward end of the shaft 4 is rigidly fixed a disk 6 having a crank-pin 7 extending eccentrically from its outer face. Secured to both the rear and the forward portions of the bottom of the enlargement 2 is a closure-plate 8, the forward edge whereof projects beyond the forward end of the enlargement and is provided with the serrations or teeth 9. The bottom of the forward portion of the'enlargement or casing is cut-away, at 10, to receive the transversely channeled movable cutter-plate 11 the forward edge of which latter is provided with serrations or teeth 12 in all respects similar to the teeth provided on the base plate, except that the number of teeth in the movable cutter plate 11 is, preferably, two less than are proaided in the base plate, and the teeth in the base plate project slightly beyond the teeth in the movable cutter-plate.

v The center of the back of the movable cutter-plate 11 is cut away to provide a recess 13 carrying a member having an angularly disposed yoke 14 into which fits and moves a bored slide block 15 that is actuated by the engagement of crank-pin 7 to transversely reciprocate the movable cutter plate. The location of the crank-pin with respect to the axis of the shaft is such as to rovide a throw which will vibrate the mova lo cutter-plate backward and forward over baseplate 8 a distance equal to the space between the first tooth and the third tooth thereof. Besides the channel provided for the reception of the movable cutter-plate in the enlargement or housing 2 the movement thereof 1n relation to the base-plate is controlled by alining slots 16 provided in the movable cutter-plate through which the headed screws 17 extend and are tapped into the base-plate,'and springs 18 are provided between the heads of the screws 17 and the upper face of the movable cutter-plate to hold the latter in intimate contact against the upper face of the base plate 8.

Depending flanges 19 are provided upon each side edge of the base plate that are channeled or gibbed, at 20, on their outer faces to points approximately in a line with the rear ends of the teeth provided in the forward edge of the base-plate. The rear portions of the sides of the adjustable guard 21. are provided with upstanding flanges 22, and the inner faces thereof are channeled or gibbed, at 23, so as to interfit with the channeled or gibbed depending flanges of base-plate 8. The forward edge of this adjustable guard plate is likewise provided with serrations or teeth 24 which register longitudinally with the serrations or teeth 9 in the baseplate. It will be seen that the upstanding flanges upon the guard plate 21 co-act with the portion of the base plate which has not been channeled or gibbed to limit the forward movement of the guard plate thereon, and the parts are, preferably, so proportioned that the guard-plate may be thrown from an eighth inch to a quarter inch in front of the teeth of the base-plate where the teeth of the guard-plate will form not only a gage for the length to which the hair is to be cut, but will also act as a comb to straighten out and arrange the hair for entry between the cutting teeth of the base-plate and the movable cutter plate.

For moving or adjusting the position of the guard plate, I have provided a bellcrank lever 25 secured by a pivot pin 26 to" the lower front face of the base-plate. One arm of the bell-crank lever is bent at a right angle to extend upwardly adjacent the handle of the mounting and upon the upper extended end thereof, a curved fin er piece 27 is provided. Pivoted to the ot er arm of the bell-crank lever is a link 28, and the opposite end of this link is pivoted, preferably, centrally of the upper surface of the guard plate, and in order to dispense with the necessity of manually moving the guardplate in both directions a spring 29 is employed which is secured at one end to the guard-plate and at the other to the baseplate to normally, but yieldingly maintain the guard-plate in a retracted or rearward position.

In Fig. 5, I have shown an alternative manner for attaching the bell-crank lever to the guard plate. In this form the rear portion of the guard .plate 21 is extended farther rearwardly, and is provided with a transverse slot 32 into which extends a pin p3 carried upon the end of the bell-crank ever.

In order to facilitate the grasping of the device in the hand of the operator, I have provided an upwardly and outwardly curved thumb-piece 30 extending from one side of the handle and a laterally extending finger-piece 31 projecting the opposite side of the handle.

It will now be seen from the foregoing description, taken in connection with the drawings, that I have provided a hair clipper of extremely simple construction involving few and simple parts to get out of order and to require adjustment, repair, or replacement, and that I have also embodied in this clipper a simply constructed and easily operated guard-plate which not only functions to prevent injury through the operation of the device, but also assists in properly presenting and arranging the hair to the cutter element as well as being operable for regulating the distance at which the cutters should operate to secure a cut of the desired length.

\Vhile I have herein disclosed certain specific instrumentalities for carrying out my invention, it will be obvious that changes may be made therein without materially departing from the principles involved. The gist of my invention, however, resides in the provision of means for the control of the length of the cut made by the clipper at all times, especially during the period of the operation of the device, and it will be obvious the adjustability of the guard-plate herein disclosed may be dispensed with, and in lieu thereof the clipper elements may be moved forwardly and rearwardly to control the length of the cut. I, therefore, desire it understood that all such modifications are contemplated within the scope of my invention, as expressed in the appended claims. 105

What I claim as new is 1. In a hair clipper having a air of serrated cutting members, a serrate plate movable transversely with respect to the rela--' tive movement between said cutting mem- 110 bers, and means for moving said last mentioned serrated plate whereby the same may be disposed in different forward and rearward positions relative to'the cutting area and means for moving said last mentioned 115 plate manually during clipping operation.

2. In a hair clipper having a pair of serrated cutter plates one of which has vibratory movement with respect to the other, whereby hair entering between the serra- 120 tions in said plates is sheared by said vibratory movement, and means for controlling the relative location of the shearing area and the forward edge of the clipper which means are manually operable durlng clipping oper- 125 ation.

3. A hair-clipper comprising a handle, a head thereon, a pair of serrated cutting members on said head, a serrated plate slidable longitudinally with respect to said head 180 and transversely with respect to the relative movement between said cutting members,-a bell-crank pivoted onlsaid head and operatively connected to said slidable plate, and

an arm extended from said bell-crank and .I

constructed to be en aged by a portion ot the operators hand w llen grasping said handle, whereby by the rocking of said bellcrank said slidable plate is inde endently movable during the operation of tlie cutting members to extend the same beyond and retract it from the serrated edges of said cutting members.

4. A hair-clipper comprising a handle, a

head thereon, a pair of serrated cuttin members on said head, a serrated plate s idable longitudinally with respect to said head and transversely with res ct to the relative movement between sai cutting members, a bell-crank pivoted on said head, a link the ends whereof are connected respectively to one of the arms of said bell-crank and said plate whereby the bell-crank is operatively connected to said slidable plate, and an arm extended from said bell-crankand constructed to be en aged by a portionof the operators han when asping said handle whereby b the rockm said slidab e plate is in ependently movable during the operation of the cutting members to extend the same beyond and retract it from -the serrated edges of said cutting members. 7

' Signed at Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, thls 2nd day of July, 1919.

FLORENCE Mn'onznn,

BENJ. T. Roonnousn.

of said bell-crank. 

